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Last Post 02/18/2008 9:42 AM by  sbeau4014
Will a Recession hurt claims handlers?
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cowboy26995
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02/16/2008 6:10 PM

    With all the talk of an economic slowdown on the horizon and the dreaded r word being used more often how will this affect claims handling. For those of you employed by either IA firms or carriers presently, do you see your workloads increasing or decreasing if a recession hits. It could be good for IA firms as carriers downsize their claims departments. It could be a boon as claims volumes increase due to economic difficulties. What do you folks see happening?

    Marc Dubois
    Executive General Adjuster
    M.G.D. Claim Services Inc.
    "Your Commercial Claims Solution"
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    K ung Fu tzu
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    02/17/2008 7:10 AM
    I don't see any change. Most people wouldn't know there was even a recession if they didn't read about it in the paper. I remember the recessions in 90-91 and 00-01 and it didn't change the industry at all. People will still put in claims and storms will still hit the US.
    The only people that would be effected during a recession is when companies freeze or reduce salary increases or cut back on big expenditures.

    The best thing to do during any economic change is to keep your house clean and free of debt and become recession proof.
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    katadj
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    02/17/2008 8:24 AM
    Recently heard that a major carrier was laying off 1000 people, including adjusters, follow up call to inside contat said they were cleaning out the "dead wood".

    Also was told from another source that a small local IA had laid off 50% of their staff in the past month or so.

    Looks like none can continue to pay the freight on staff that produces no income. They are like the kids that try and drain the ocean with a bucket.
    "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new... Albert Einstein"
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    Tom Toll
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    02/17/2008 10:12 AM

    A recession always produces arson and theft of property. So claims count will increase to an extent. I am not feeling a recession, but prices on the shelves are increasing and fuel is still out of sight. As Kung Fu said, make yourself recession proof.

    Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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    dorothys
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    02/17/2008 6:38 PM

    Claims have dried up in Florida...a hurricane would be very good for the economy...maybe a little one. I know that there are more claims for abandoned houses...foreclosures. Fires are beginning to trickle in; people are thinking fire loss rather than foreclosure, maybe. I think that people are afraid to put in claims now; they may be non-renewed next time around.
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    okclarryd
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    02/17/2008 6:52 PM
    About the only thing a recession does is make the insured mad that the lien holder has to be on the check.


    They need the money to cook and eat and catch up on the car payments, not fix the house.
    Larry D Hardin
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    HuskerCat
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    02/17/2008 8:39 PM

    Yeah, foreclosures & claims on them.  Had one once on a $300,000 two-year old home that was very much out of place in a town of 500 people and otherwise very old or very cheaply built homes.  Loss was reported by the lender as vandalism/theft after the realtor's inspection, with missing furnace/AC/hot water heater/stove/dishwasher/wood flooring & expensive floor tiles.  And scribbled on the kitchen wall in large letters, was "It's all yours now, you f*$%)g bankers!"   Only after I spoke to a couple of the neighbors was the missing property found stored in a detached garage about 3 blocks away at a relative's residence.  The carrier had me report it to the county sheriff because the local town cop barely investigated it.  Accordoing to one of the locals, the town cop's house had been foreclosed on too by some other lender.  Was curious why the sheriff didn't investigate initially, until I was told the town is located on Indian reservation land and certain tribal laws apply before state or county authorities intervene.    
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    BobH
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    02/17/2008 10:38 PM
    Yeah, I remember hard financial times hit about 10 years ago and I had a claim where a commercial tenant was yanking out 30k worth of tenant improvements to the landlord's buildings (permanantly installed doors, toilets, chair rail molding, stuff that legaly was the landlord property if they left). The cops were called as the tenant was noisely yanking the stuff out, crowbaring holes in the walls, and the cops accepted their story that it was their stuff and let them take it - wrecking the building.

    People do things they don't normally do when times are tough, and I don't think claims slow down.
    Bob H
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    rcarv3135
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    02/17/2008 10:46 PM
    As an Independent CAT Adjuster, most of our claims are the result of the weather, I can't forsee a reason why we would be affected by an ecconmic recession. Only if there is a weather recession, LOL
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    rbryanhines
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    02/18/2008 1:01 AM

    I dont see a recession creating anything but a few fraud claims. However I've noticed that when a cat hits during a recession I've always rec'd more than my normal load of claims . I've always thought it was due to less staff adjusters and the fact that alot of IA adjusters were out of the business or simply couldn't afford the expenses it took to work the storm. I've always had my best storms on the heels of slow times. You can be a great adjuster and still not be successful. Mark this down unless you have a great number of daily work or overflow contacts you must create other revenue streams and have great money managment. Good Luck
    Just my 2 cents
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    sbeau4014
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    02/18/2008 9:42 AM
    I had the good fortune to work for a carrier that insured most of the FDIC and all of RTC's (Resolution Truxt Corporation) repossesed properties back in the early 90's and I believe recessions have a big impact on numbers of vandalism, theft and arson claims. The problem is that most of those type claims would be handled by staff adjusters or IA's that work daily claims for the carriers in the affected areas. In a round about way it could benefit full time cat adjusters in that if the staff adjusters and the local IA's are busy dealing with more of these type of claims, they would be more inclined to farm out the cat claims that they would usually do themselves.
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